SPARS Code

An acronym for Society of Professional Audio Recording Services Code.

A three-letter code that appears on some Compact Discs recordings indicating what type of tape recorder was used in the recording process, either analogue (A) or digital (D).

• The first letter indicates the type of tape recorder used during initial recording (A or D)
• The second letter indicates the type of tape recorder used during mixing (A or D)
• The third letter indicates the type of mastering used (D only)

However, this code is not a reliable indicator of the quality of the recording. There are many excellent quality AAD recordings around and many poor quality DDD recordings.